CHART OF THE DAY: Tampa Bay Rays Still Reaping Benefits From The Delmon Young Trade

It has been three years since the Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota
Twins completed one of the biggest blockbuster trades in recent
memory. The Rays sent former no. 1 pick Delmon Young, and two
others to the Twins for Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and a minor
leaguer.

Based just on the performance of those players the last three
seasons, the Rays clearly "won" the trade, even with Young's
breakout performance this past season (.298-21-112). And with
their moves this off-season, the Rays have positioned themselves
to continue benefiting from this trade for years to come.

If we look at Wins Above Replacement (WAR; via
Fangraphs.com), which measures how many Wins a player
has been worth to his team, the three players received by the
Twins have been worth a total of 0.3 WAR. On the other hand,
Garza and Bartlett have combined for 15.3 WAR as members of the
Rays (Eduardo Morlan never appeared in a game for the Rays).

But it didn't end there. This off-season, the Rays traded Garza
to the Cubs for five prospects and Bartlett to the Padres for
four prospects. The Twins still have Young for two more seasons
before he is eligible for free agency. However, the other two
players, Jason Pridie (waived) and Brendan Harris (traded), are
no longer with the team.

So, in the three seasons since the trade, the Rays have picked up
15 more Wins worth of production from their end of the trade. And
the nine prospects picked up this winter could each potentially
play six seasons for the Rays. That is 54 more player-seasons on
top of the six they got from Garza and Bartlett. Barring an
extension for Young, the Twins will only get ten player-seasons
from the players they received.

As a wise woman once said, bad trades are a part of baseball. And
for the Rays, Delmon Young was the gift that keeps on giving (see
below for key to the chart).

"Seasons" is the total number of seasons those players played
for their new team. For example, Garza and Bartlett each played 3
seasons with Rays. Morlan never played for the Rays. That is a
total of 6 seasons. "Seasons remaining" is the number of total
years those players remaining until free agency. A players is
eligible for free agency after 6 seasons. "PTBNL" = Player to be
Named Later. "WAR" = Wins Above Replacement, via
Fangraphs.com.